Daily News Brief: Mind Controlled Robots

Mind Controlled Robots

Japan continues to churn out the coolest robots, and they've done so again with the help of Duke University. A world's first according to the Japan Science and Technology Agency, researchers have figured out a way to control a humanoid robot with signals picked up in the U.S. from a monkey's brain via the internet. Scientists hope the discovery will lead to restoring motor functions in severely paralyzed patients. Read more here, then check out the YouTube video.

Playstation 3 Cheaper to Manufacturer

Now that the high definition war has appeared to turn in Blu-ray's favor, Sony's gamble to include the costly optical appears to be paying off. Helping matters even further, Sony is spending significantly less on each PS3 console, with Nikko Citigroup's Kota Ezawa estimating manufacturing costs to hover around $400, less than half of the $840.35 iSuppli estimated during the PS3's launch in November, 2006. As the costs of parts continue to drop, SCEI chief Kazuo Hirai is shooting for profitability in the next fiscal year.

MySpace Agreement Details

More details have emerged regarding MySpace's agreement with legal authorities in 49 states on how to go about preventing sexual predators from misusing the social networking site. In addition to what we reported yesterday, MySpace has agreed to:

Allow parents to submit children's email addresses to MySpace to prevent anyone from misusing the addresses to set up profiles

Make the default setting private for 16 and 17-year-old account holders

iPhone No. 1 Google User

Though short lived, the iPhone briefly became the No. 1 mobile phone using Google's services despite claiming a relatively small share of the overall mobile phone market. A chart revealed by Google shows iPhone users starting to surpass BlackBerry customers in mid-November before taking the top spot on December 25th. Apple reported more than 1.3 million iPhones sold by the end of September, compared to 50 million Nokia N-series owners and 12 million subscribers using BlackBerry devices.

OLPC Dissected

NotebookReview.com got their hands on an OLPC XO laptop and put the unit through their formal review process. Not surprisingly, they found the XO inadequate as a modern notebook replacement. But of more interest to geeks are the several snapshots taken of the internal componentry. For the full scoop, read the Review and Teardown.

Macworld Keynote Announcements

The Macworld Expo kicked off today, and Steve Jobs used his keynote to announce a few new products. Rumors of the MacBook Air were confirmed, which Jobs called the "world's thinnest notebook," measuring between 0.16" and 0.76" thick at its thinnest and fattest points respectively. Jobs also confirmed that Apple plans to offer high-definition movie rentals through the iTues Store, with content to be provided by Miramax, Touchstone, MGM Lionsgate, New Line Cinema, Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount, Sony, and Universal. First run titles will be available 30 days after the DVD release, with over 1,000 titles available during the end of February launch.

The "Give One Get One" program means, basically, your $400 goes to pay for 2 laptops: one for you, and one for an underprivileged child in a developing country. The cost to build one of the laptops is close to $200, so OLPC makes no profit off the deal.